I was promoted to squad leader later that afternoon, with the passing of Sergeant Cook while out on our routine morning patrol around the Shanghi district. The Sergeant was a good man; a veteran of past battle’s. He would tell us stories about Battlefield 1942, and the guys he had met during his two tours from Battlefield Bad Company. The last tour, Battlefield 3, he thought he could’ve retired from. We almost lost him that time. But ever since this new battle came out you sensed the “serg” knew something was up. Of course he tried not to show it. But once we landed in Shanghi, China. Everything changed…..”

The Beta for Battlefield 4 has been out for a while now for the Xbox 360, PC and the PS3. For those who have played it and complained about the graphics or the small glitches that sometimes occur. Let me remind you. It’s a Beta. Meaning the creators of the game were kind enough to allow us to sample a small portion of what there is to come on October 29, 2013. So of course there are going to glitches and the graphics may not be the best for now. But on the release date the nay-sayers will be put in their place.

Team Play Redefined

If you have played BF3 you have the basic understanding of BF4. For those who haven’t. You may regret it. BF4 isn’t your typical run and gun game; like Call of Duty or Halo. In BF4 you work in squads of five (in BF3 squads were only four). You can even take a vote within your squad to elect a new squad leader during gameplay. The creators of BF4 have allowed players to communicate with each other by installing a sound board for each person with simple response/command terms. The common commands are “I need ammo, I need health, defend/attack point, and repair vehicle”. But now you also have responses, “affirmative, thank you, sorry and go go go”. While minor additions, these commands and responses provide a sense of interactiveness between each person for those players who don’t use mics.

New Enemy Equals New Weapons

Obviously, we can expect a lot of changes in BF4. One of the many new surprises is who you’re fighting. In the past Battlefield games, players have fought against the Russians in solo campaign and in multiplayer. Battlefield 3 allowed us to fight in the middle east in solo campaign and the Russians in multiplayer. But here’s the twist, in the BF4 multiplayer not only can you fight the Russians but now you are also fighting against the Chinese! What makes this interesting is now you can see how the Chinese weapons and their soldiers match up against the United States and the Russians. So, to recap you can now fight as a Chinese soldier in the red army, fight as a Russian soldier and of course fight with pride in the U.S. military.

Outside of the squads the battle play itself has changed. For those who love sniping or destruction. You will not be disappointed. When players are introduced to the map, “Shanghi" they are mostly surrounded by tall buildings and a river. You may enjoy looking up at the tall buildings and seeing how the graphics of the water look. But just don’t because before you know it you have just been sent back to your respawn, by a sniper on top of one of those buildings or by someone who is swimming while shooting at you.

Open World Engine, Meet First Person Shooter

In BF4 you can use any surrounding to your advantage. See a nice tall building, climb aboard a helicopter, parachute down onto that building and raise hell. You can’t cross the bridge since you’re afraid of getting shot by a sniper? Try swimming across, but be sure to keep your head on a swivel, as you may not be alone in the water. And remember, while you’re swimming you can avoid being seen or shot at by diving underwater and using the water as cover, but only for a limited time, or you'll drown.

Nice Ride...I'm Gonna Blow It Up!

What is BF4 without vehicles? Now instead of just land and air battles; BF4 has introduced us to sea battles. Where the tide of the battle can literally change during gameplay. Not only can you use tanks, boats, helicopters, jets and transport vehicles but now even jet ski’s. HA! But what gives each player their own identity within the gameplay is that you can now have different camouflage designs, known as “paint” on all the vehicles.

Set aside all the camouflage and the explosive environment. It comes down to the soldier. The work horse of any military and their tools, “weapons”. As you all have experienced with other first person shooters. You can customize the guns, add scopes, grips, extended barrels; the works basically. But what if you could take it even further? BF4 announced that there are over 200,000 different ways to customize your weapons. Not just your primary weapons, but also your knife for different takedowns and different types of pistols. What makes this interesting is that no two weapons could be alike once everyone starts ranking up. Something will always be different and unique.

Do You Even "Snipe" Bro

Lastly, for all you post and kill fans, BF4 has really changed how sniping is treated during gameplay. They introduced real bullet drop in BF3, because apparently that’s too easy for many players so a new system has been introduced. Instead of just pointing the cross hairs at somebody and get a kill. You now have to judge the distance and “zero-in” on your target.

The “zero-ing” reaches from 0-1000 meters with zoomed in optics of 6x or 14x . Depending on what zoom focus your scopes setting are you must measure the distance. Thankfully BF4 gives the sniper class a range finder tool, which also acts as a lock-on laser designator on vehicles.

For me and possibly other players out there Battlefield 4 is a game changer. No longer will gamers complain about nose scoping or having people running around knifing everyone five feet from you and claiming you as another point. But now the battlefield is what it is intended to be, strategic and cooperative, and of course mixed in with a little chaos. For more updates/reviews on games and movies you can reach us on our Contact page. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Also, be sure to subscribe and listen to our podcast in the iTunes Store.Thanks for reading and see you on the Battlefield!